lee cohenhttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/taxonomy/term/5337/%252Ffeed
enOde: What Dad Saidhttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/ode-what-dad-said?lnk=rss&loc=lee-cohen
<p><em>by Lee Cohen</em></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">My friend Bill always felt like the black sheep. He grew up in a New Hampshire family of siblings and cousins who all carved out respectable careers in the “regular” world—doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. But after graduating from Dartmouth, he followed a force that beckoned him out West, where he built a life that revolved greatly around skiing. At some point he shared his feelings with his dad, and somewhere in there he admitted that he’d always felt he’d let the old man down. I had a similar experience. I blew off going to a university with stature and lollygagged through my entire education, winding up out West just like Bill. I too pursued a life that revolved around skiing.</span></p>
<p>I too felt like my dad thought I hadn’t become all I could have—like I’d pursued a life that wasn’t, in his eyes, the wisest choice, or the best. Then one day, when my dad was in his late 70s, I found myself talking to him about it. We were parked in my driveway during one of only two visits he ever made to my Salt Lake home. I opened up about the feelings I had—that I’d come up short of what he thought I could be, of who he wanted me to be. I fought tears as I broached this new subject with him. I was in my 30s then, and this lifelong accumulation of emotion was coming out for the first time. And maybe my dad’s reaction didn’t surprise me that much. He said that he was never disappointed in me, that I had lived the life of my choice and that all he wanted was for me to find happiness in it. Any misgivings he’d had were long forgotten.</p>
<p>What a weight was lifted from my heart. I suspect lots of guys who end up building lives around skiing go through a similar sort of experience. There’s some weird guilt that comes with shunning societal norms to pursue something you enjoy. On the other hand, in the case of skiing, it’s usually Dad who turned you on to the enjoyment in the first place. I know mine took me skiing when I was five.</p>
<p>As my dad lay on his deathbed I sat with him, and the last time he spoke more than a single word was in response to my telling him that his grandson, just turned 18, had won the coveted Sickbird Award in his first men’s-division big-mountain comp. I know he didn’t really understand what the Sickbird Award was, though I explained it to him.</p>
<p>“Pretty cool, huh?” I asked him. He strained to agree. “Pretty cool.”</p>
<p>And one day, when Bill was at a family reunion where all his nephews and nieces were enjoying a visit to Utah ski land, one of them said, “Hey, Uncle Bill, you know, none of us would be doing this now if you hadn’t made that move out West.”</p>
<p>Sure enough, my own kid wouldn’t be living the life of a skier if I hadn’t done the same thing. Pretty cool, huh?</p>
<p><em>Photographer Lee Cohen calls Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon home. His work appears frequently in Skiing.</em></p>
<p><em>&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/totally-worth-it-ode-ski-town-dating"><img class="mceItem" style="float: left;" src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_attachments_articles/back_2.jpg" alt="" height="35" width="135" /></a><a href="MIDDLE LINKS"><img class="mceItem" style="float: left;" src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_attachments_articles/truth.jpg" alt="" height="38" width="405" /></a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/ode-skiing-rain"><img class="mceItem" style="float: left;" src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_attachments_articles/next_2.jpg" alt="" height="35" width="91" /></a></em></p>
<p><em>&nbsp;</em></p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-main-photo">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<div class="photo-box">
<div class="image"><img src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/imagecache/enlarged_image/_images/201409/main_image_skg1014_ode1_fatherson_1.jpg" alt="The author and son in the Alta backcountry" title="" width="1000" height="750" class="imagecache imagecache-enlarged_image"/></div>
<div class="photo_credit">Photo by: <span>Sam Bass</span></div>
<h4 class="title">The author and son in the Alta backcountry</h4>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/ode-what-dad-said#commentsskiing143238http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_images/201409/tout_skg1014_ode1_fatherson.jpg143242Father Son thumbnailhttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_images/201409/main_image_skg1014_ode1_fatherson_1.jpg143241The author and son in the Alta backcountryMaybe he didn't expect to raise a ski bum. But was he disappointed?<p><em>by Lee Cohen</em></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">My friend Bill always felt like the black sheep. He grew up in a New Hampshire family of siblings and cousins who all carved out respectable careers in the “regular” world—doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. But after graduating from Dartmouth, he followed a force that beckoned him out West, where he built a life that revolved greatly around skiing. At some point he shared his feelings with his dad, and somewhere in there he admitted that he’d always felt he’d let the old man down. I had a similar experience. I blew off going to a university with stature and lollygagged through my entire education, winding up out West just like Bill. I too pursued a life that revolved around skiing.</span></p>
<p>I too felt like my dad thought I hadn’t become all I could have—like I’d pursued a life that wasn’t, in his eyes, the wisest choice, or the best. Then one day, when my dad was in his late 70s, I found myself talking to him about it. We were parked in my driveway during one of only two visits he ever made to my Salt Lake home. I opened up about the feelings I had—that I’d come up short of what he thought I could be, of who he wanted me to be. I fought tears as I broached this new subject with him. I was in my 30s then, and this lifelong accumulation of emotion was coming out for the first time. And maybe my dad’s reaction didn’t surprise me that much. He said that he was never disappointed in me, that I had lived the life of my choice and that all he wanted was for me to find happiness in it. Any misgivings he’d had were long forgotten.</p>
<p>What a weight was lifted from my heart. I suspect lots of guys who end up building lives around skiing go through a similar sort of experience. There’s some weird guilt that comes with shunning societal norms to pursue something you enjoy. On the other hand, in the case of skiing, it’s usually Dad who turned you on to the enjoyment in the first place. I know mine took me skiing when I was five.</p>
<p>As my dad lay on his deathbed I sat with him, and the last time he spoke more than a single word was in response to my telling him that his grandson, just turned 18, had won the coveted Sickbird Award in his first men’s-division big-mountain comp. I know he didn’t really understand what the Sickbird Award was, though I explained it to him.</p>
<p>“Pretty cool, huh?” I asked him. He strained to agree. “Pretty cool.”</p>
<p>And one day, when Bill was at a family reunion where all his nephews and nieces were enjoying a visit to Utah ski land, one of them said, “Hey, Uncle Bill, you know, none of us would be doing this now if you hadn’t made that move out West.”</p>
<p>Sure enough, my own kid wouldn’t be living the life of a skier if I hadn’t done the same thing. Pretty cool, huh?</p>
<p><em>Photographer Lee Cohen calls Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon home. His work appears frequently in Skiing.</em></p>
<p><em>&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/totally-worth-it-ode-ski-town-dating"><img class="mceItem" style="float: left;" src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_attachments_articles/back_2.jpg" alt="" height="35" width="135" /></a><a href="MIDDLE LINKS"><img class="mceItem" style="float: left;" src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_attachments_articles/truth.jpg" alt="" height="38" width="405" /></a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/ode-skiing-rain"><img class="mceItem" style="float: left;" src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_attachments_articles/next_2.jpg" alt="" height="35" width="91" /></a></em></p>
<p><em>&nbsp;</em></p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-main-photo">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<div class="photo-box">
<div class="image"><img src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/imagecache/enlarged_image/_images/201409/main_image_skg1014_ode1_fatherson_1.jpg" alt="The author and son in the Alta backcountry" title="" width="1000" height="750" class="imagecache imagecache-enlarged_image"/></div>
<div class="photo_credit">Photo by: <span>Sam Bass</span></div>
<h4 class="title">The author and son in the Alta backcountry</h4>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
articleTue, 23 Sep 2014 13:14:08 +0000snowmaker143238 at http://www.skinet.com/skiingGet Schooled: Athlete Q&As and Insider Tipshttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/symms/2008/11/get-schooled-athlete-qas-and-insider-tips?lnk=rss&loc=lee-cohen
<!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><p><i>Skiing</i> Magazine's Get Schooled department brings you tips from athletes on everything from surviving a nasty traverse (December 2008 issue) to throwing a Rodeo 540 (September 2008). Plus, we chatted with the athletes about their favorite skiing spots, apres drinks, nachos vs. wings, and more. Click on the Q&amp;A links below to hear what they had to say.<br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/skg0109gs_nosebutter_thm.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Throw a Nose Butter 540 (with athlete John Symms, from the Jan. 2009 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/how-throw-nose-butter-540-0><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Symms</u></font></a><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/skiing-magazine-qa-john-symms><font color= "blue"><u>Read a Q&amp;A with Symms</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/skg0108-gs_skicut_thumb.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Ski Cut (with athlete Reggie Crist, from the Jan. 2009 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/how-ski-cut><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Crist</u></font></a><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/skiing-magazine-qa-reggie-crist><font color= "blue"><u>Check out our Q&amp;A with Crist</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/skg0109gs_lift_thumb.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Rip the Lift Line (with athlete Erik Roner, from the Jan. 2009 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/how-rip-lift-line-0><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Roner</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-11/skg1208gs_b_small.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Slay a Pillow Line (with athlete Ian McIntosh, from the Dec. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/how-slay-pillow-line-0><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from McIntosh</u></font></a><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/skiing-magazine-qa-ian-mcintosh><font color= "blue"><u>Check out our Q&amp;A with McIntosh</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-11/skg1208gs_a_small.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Survive a Nasty Traverse (with athlete Rachael Burks, from the Dec. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/how-survive-nasty-traverse><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Burks</u></font></a> <br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/skiing-magazine-qa-rachael-burks><font color= "blue"><u>Check out our Q&amp;A with Burks</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/cover-shot.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Snap a Magazine Cover Shot (with photographer Lee Cohen, form the Nov. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-10/how-snap-magazine-cover-shot><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Cohen</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/chinesedownhill.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Win a Chinese Downhill (with athlete Cody Townsend, from the Nov. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-10/4-tips-winning-chinese-downhill><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Townsend</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/stompbackflip.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Stomp a Back Flip (with athlete Mike Wilson, from the Nov. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-10/how-stomp-back-flip><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Wilson</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/dropintocouloir.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Drop Into a Couloir (with guide Eric Henderson, from the Oct. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/travel/2008-10/how-drop-couloir><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Henderson</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/chargeexposedterrain.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Charge Exposed Terrain (with athlete Erik Roner, from the Sept. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-08/skiing-magazines-get-schooled-charge-exposed-terrain><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Roner</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/rodeo540.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Throw a Rodeo 540 (with athlete John Symms, from the Sept. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-08/skiing-magazines-get-schooled-throw-rodeo-540><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Symms</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/symms/2008/11/get-schooled-athlete-qas-and-insider-tips#commentscouloirdrinkseric hendersoninsider tipslee cohenmike wilsonnachosphotographerreggie cristrodeoronerskiing magazinesymmsskiing60084http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_pages_thumbs/2008-11/skg1208gs_at.jpg69150http://www.skinet.com/skiing/Tips for every type of slope situation, plus athlete Q&As, brought to you by Skiing Magazine.<!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><!--paging_filter--><p><i>Skiing</i> Magazine's Get Schooled department brings you tips from athletes on everything from surviving a nasty traverse (December 2008 issue) to throwing a Rodeo 540 (September 2008). Plus, we chatted with the athletes about their favorite skiing spots, apres drinks, nachos vs. wings, and more. Click on the Q&amp;A links below to hear what they had to say.<br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/skg0109gs_nosebutter_thm.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Throw a Nose Butter 540 (with athlete John Symms, from the Jan. 2009 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/how-throw-nose-butter-540-0><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Symms</u></font></a><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/skiing-magazine-qa-john-symms><font color= "blue"><u>Read a Q&amp;A with Symms</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/skg0108-gs_skicut_thumb.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Ski Cut (with athlete Reggie Crist, from the Jan. 2009 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/how-ski-cut><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Crist</u></font></a><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/skiing-magazine-qa-reggie-crist><font color= "blue"><u>Check out our Q&amp;A with Crist</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/skg0109gs_lift_thumb.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Rip the Lift Line (with athlete Erik Roner, from the Jan. 2009 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-12/how-rip-lift-line-0><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Roner</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-11/skg1208gs_b_small.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Slay a Pillow Line (with athlete Ian McIntosh, from the Dec. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/how-slay-pillow-line-0><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from McIntosh</u></font></a><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/skiing-magazine-qa-ian-mcintosh><font color= "blue"><u>Check out our Q&amp;A with McIntosh</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-11/skg1208gs_a_small.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Survive a Nasty Traverse (with athlete Rachael Burks, from the Dec. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/how-survive-nasty-traverse><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Burks</u></font></a> <br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-11/skiing-magazine-qa-rachael-burks><font color= "blue"><u>Check out our Q&amp;A with Burks</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/cover-shot.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Snap a Magazine Cover Shot (with photographer Lee Cohen, form the Nov. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-10/how-snap-magazine-cover-shot><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Cohen</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/chinesedownhill.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Win a Chinese Downhill (with athlete Cody Townsend, from the Nov. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-10/4-tips-winning-chinese-downhill><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Townsend</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/stompbackflip.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Stomp a Back Flip (with athlete Mike Wilson, from the Nov. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-10/how-stomp-back-flip><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Wilson</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/dropintocouloir.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Drop Into a Couloir (with guide Eric Henderson, from the Oct. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/travel/2008-10/how-drop-couloir><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Henderson</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/chargeexposedterrain.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Charge Exposed Terrain (with athlete Erik Roner, from the Sept. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-08/skiing-magazines-get-schooled-charge-exposed-terrain><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Roner</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<p><img src=http://www.skinet.com/files/imagecache/image_details/_images/2008-12/rodeo540.jpg align=left /><br /><br />
<b>How to Throw a Rodeo 540 (with athlete John Symms, from the Sept. 2008 issue)</b><br /><br />
><a href=http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-08/skiing-magazines-get-schooled-throw-rodeo-540><font color= "blue"><u>Get tips from Symms</u></font></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
articleWed, 12 Nov 2008 20:18:29 +0000SkiNet Editor60084 at http://www.skinet.com/skiingHow to Snap a Magazine Cover Shothttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/how-to/diy-/-maintenance/2008/10/how-to-snap-a-magazine-cover-shot?lnk=rss&loc=lee-cohen
<p><strong>Ditch the point-and-shoot</strong> and grab a digital SLR. The former takes fine pics, but many models fire a good second after pulling the trigger. Great photos require an immediate response. </p>
<p> <strong>Understand how your camera works.</strong> Set your ASA/ISO (light sensitivity) at 100 on a sunny day; 200 or 400 in flat light. Shoot at 1/800 of a second or faster to freeze action. Snow can fool a camera and look darker in photos. Try auto mode first, but if it’s too light or dark, use exposure compensation. Plus will let in more light; minus will let in less. </p>
<p> <strong>What will your frame consist of?</strong> Look for interesting light and composition. A useful guideline is the rule of thirds. Imagine your image split into thirds, vertically and horizontally, like a tic-tac-toe grid. Use the lines as guides for linear arrangement and the intersection points for subject matter. You can prefocus on a point of action or use autofocus to get more than one shot in quick succession. </p>
<p> <strong>Even pro skiers don’t always</strong> look solid, so use the terrain and your skier to anticipate the peak moment of action. Identify the points of a turn or an air when form comes together. Communication between skier and photographer is key for figuring out when and where to grab the best image. </p>
<p> <strong>Nail the shot.</strong> If you don’t, there’s always Photoshop.* </p>
<p> <em>Utah-based photographer Lee Cohen has shot five covers for </em>Skiing<em> </em>Magazine<em>, </em></p>
<p> *What You Shouldn’t do With Photoshop: Over-cropping. Over-adjusting color. Over-sharpening. Over-blueing the sky. Over-tilting steeps. Over-anything, really.</p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-main-photo">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<div class="photo-box">
<div class="image"><img src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/imagecache/enlarged_image/_pages_thumbs/2008-10/skg1108gse_t.jpg" alt="" title="" width="1000" height="1000" class="imagecache imagecache-enlarged_image"/></div>
<div class="photo_credit">Photo by: <span>Skiing Magazine Editor</span></div>
<div class="caption"> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/how-to/diy-/-maintenance/2008/06/how-to-take-the-perfect-pow-shot">How to Take the Perfect Pow Shot</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/how-to/diy-/-maintenance/2008/10/how-to-snap-a-magazine-cover-shot#commentsDIY / MaintenanceAltalee cohenphotographerskiing59376http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_pages_thumbs/2008-10/skg1108gse_t.jpg69108http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/_pages_thumbs/2008-10/skg1108gse_t.jpg69108Photographer Lee Cohen outlines what you need to create to cover shot.<p><strong>Ditch the point-and-shoot</strong> and grab a digital SLR. The former takes fine pics, but many models fire a good second after pulling the trigger. Great photos require an immediate response. </p>
<p> <strong>Understand how your camera works.</strong> Set your ASA/ISO (light sensitivity) at 100 on a sunny day; 200 or 400 in flat light. Shoot at 1/800 of a second or faster to freeze action. Snow can fool a camera and look darker in photos. Try auto mode first, but if it’s too light or dark, use exposure compensation. Plus will let in more light; minus will let in less. </p>
<p> <strong>What will your frame consist of?</strong> Look for interesting light and composition. A useful guideline is the rule of thirds. Imagine your image split into thirds, vertically and horizontally, like a tic-tac-toe grid. Use the lines as guides for linear arrangement and the intersection points for subject matter. You can prefocus on a point of action or use autofocus to get more than one shot in quick succession. </p>
<p> <strong>Even pro skiers don’t always</strong> look solid, so use the terrain and your skier to anticipate the peak moment of action. Identify the points of a turn or an air when form comes together. Communication between skier and photographer is key for figuring out when and where to grab the best image. </p>
<p> <strong>Nail the shot.</strong> If you don’t, there’s always Photoshop.* </p>
<p> <em>Utah-based photographer Lee Cohen has shot five covers for </em>Skiing<em> </em>Magazine<em>, </em></p>
<p> *What You Shouldn’t do With Photoshop: Over-cropping. Over-adjusting color. Over-sharpening. Over-blueing the sky. Over-tilting steeps. Over-anything, really.</p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-main-photo">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<div class="photo-box">
<div class="image"><img src="http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/imagecache/enlarged_image/_pages_thumbs/2008-10/skg1108gse_t.jpg" alt="" title="" width="1000" height="1000" class="imagecache imagecache-enlarged_image"/></div>
<div class="photo_credit">Photo by: <span>Skiing Magazine Editor</span></div>
<div class="caption"> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/how-to/diy-/-maintenance/2008/06/how-to-take-the-perfect-pow-shot">How to Take the Perfect Pow Shot</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
articleTue, 28 Oct 2008 19:10:00 +0000SkiNet Editor59376 at http://www.skinet.com/skiingHuck Offhttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/resorts/western-us/utah/2003/11/huck-off?lnk=rss&loc=lee-cohen
<p>Is cliff jumping the future of skiing, or just an awe-inspiring freak show on the margins of the sport?</p>
<p>I met skier Jamie Pierre for the first time on a Thursday morning last March. Within 90 minutes, I saw him flip off a 40-foot cliff at Snowbird and land on a tree buried in the snow. It hurt him like hell, but he broke no bones nor punctured any internal organs. Two hours later, at Alta, he got into a screaming argument with his friend and photographer Lee Cohen before popping off a 50-footer. Eight minutes after that, he tried to board a midmountain chair without showing his season pass. When a lift supervisor demanded to see it, Pierre snarled, "Do you know who I am?" The supervisor, who naturally found Pierre's comment rude, answered, "No, asshole, do you know who I am?" A sneering Pierre tore open his coat and thrust the pass toward the liftie in a manner that could have led to blows, but didn't. <br /><br />Early the next morning, Pierre hiked from Brighton to a cliff above Wolverine Cirque. As Cohen and I aimed cameras from an aerie above the Alta side of the cirque, Pierre attempted an American cliff-jumping record of 160 feet. During his stunningly long free fall, he pulled a Lincoln loop-reaching toward his tips and cartwheeling forward from the takeoff while somehow managing to rotate his torso. He stuck the landing. It was by far the biggest, most impressive air I've ever seen.<br /><br />Fifteen minutes later, while hiking out, Pierre had a seizure, likely due to the minor concussion he suffered on the landing. "I've averaged at least one concussion per year since the early '90s," Pierre tells me. He seldom wears a helmet: "If it's a matter of my body going instantly from terminal velocity to zero, a helmet isn't gonna help much."<br /><br />Pierre goes bigger than anyone alive, but I wonder what good it does him. Is hurling your meat off massive cliffs any way to make a name in skiing? <br /><br />It's hard to say. Pierre's 160-vertical-foot Lincoln loop occurred almost 10 years to the day after Tahoe bartender Paul Ruff died in an attempt to set the world-record cliff jump. At the time, the recognized record of 140 feet was shared by two skiers: soft-spoken John Tremann, who later left extreme skiing to become a born-again Christian, and Chuck "Huck" Patterson, who has since become better known for his big-wave surfing. After inviting friends, photographers, and cinematographers to a 160-foot cliff near Kirkwood, California, Ruff, and his dream of selling the footage to tabloid TV, splattered on some volcanic rocks. <br /><br />Nonetheless, skiers have spent the last decade going bigger and bigger. Canadian Jeff Holden became an immediate cover boy with a gargantuan 150-footer in Alaska a few years back. But just going big isn't enough-huckers keep tweaking the inhuman art of leaping into a void by throwing spins, tricks, and crotch grabs. A recent Nissan ad sells Pathfinders with footage of hospital-air flips by Micah Black, Kent Kreitler, and Shane McConkey.<br /><br />The sport's obsession with catching air long ago brought us V-legged Finns yumping Nordic style in the Olympics and, more recently, rubbery teens flipping about in terrain parks. But executing practiced jumps off man-made ramps doesn't send a shiver up skiers' collective spine like feral cliffs do. Unlike jibbers and Olympic ski jumpers, cliff huckers never know if their leaps are makeable. It's skiing's ultimate mind game. Ruff's friends, for instance, had reservations about his plan. But they hesitated to tell him so, fearing they'd cloud the positive attitude he'd need for his attempt. Still, Ruff's brains interfered anyway. Right before popping off the lip, he appeared to heed a basic human instinct and made an inexplicable, certainly unplanned, check turn. It was a "Whoa! What the hell am I doing?" hesitation. And it crimped his trajectory. Without the check turn, he might have cleared the murderous rocks... and survived to see his jump surpassed by some other loon.</p>
<p>These days, the world record belongs to Paul Ahern of New Zealand. In 1995, Ahern jumped an asttounding 225 feet into wind-packed snow, cushioning the blow by filling his backpack with Styrofoam. The fact that jibbers such as Tanner Hall make six figures a year while virtually no one even knows who Paul Ahern is suggests that cliff hucking is in no way a ticket to stardom. It gets you short-term attention, sure, but it's a dangerously poor way to make a career.</p>
<p>Pierre, who turned 30 last February, is only now carving out a profitable niche. "This is the first year that I can afford my lifestyle, instead of busting ass all summer to pay back my winter vacation," he says. "Sponsors thought I was just a hucker and wouldn't last, but now people realize I'm here to stay." Pierre has proven sufficiently photogenic to deliver all kinds of contemporary freeskiing imagery. He's not just screwing up his courage and plopping off nature's skyscrapers. He also stomps gap jumps-the suddenly de rigeur practice of going huge horizontally. He was the first person to nail Pyramid Gap, a 93-foot span between tailing piles in the Wasatch backcountry, over which he nonchalantly threw a floating back flip. For the latest Teton Gravity Research film, he soared off a kicker and over the third story of the Snowbird parking garage. But cliffs are where his heart is. "I moved to the Rockies from Minnesota to ski big terrain, not angled ice skating rinks like we had at home. I wish I was a better park rider, but jumps aren't that impressive to me if someone else can do it. If you can do it too, I'm wasting both of our time."</p>
<p>Sometime in the next few months, Pierre plans to break Ahern's record. At first he didn't want to say where. But after reassuring him that neither I nor the other 10 million skiers on earth would try to scoop him, he revealed that he's eyeing a 235-foot behemoth off the back side of Grand Targhee. Does it scare him? "As soon as it's over 65 feet, it's all the same," Pierre says. "A 70-footer is the same as a 160-footer, pysche-wise and impact-wise. You just gotta time the free fall better."</p>
<p>Iffy physics aside-forget 160 feet, he'll still be accelerating at 235 feet-there's got to be more to such carcass hurling than timing. So I asked Pierre what he does up on the edge of the abyss. "I stomp my skis into the snow, double click my poles together, and say a Hail Mary," he says. "I'm a strong Christian. Pronouncing my faith is the least I can do for the Holy Spirit for taking care of me for so long."</p>
<p>I find it fascinating that Pierre, like Tremann before him, asks God along on his jumps. Few freeskiers I know of rave about Christianity. Those with film credits often act arrogant, with an outsized sense of entitlement. But the more you talk to Pierre, the more you realize his outbursts are due to the singular focus it takes to hurl his corporal being into space. "I come off as short-tempered," he says, "but I apologize as soon as everything goes well." He also goes out of his way to credit family, girlfriend, and peers for his success. Call him a rare breed. Or, given his habit of hucking cliffs, call him an endangered species.</p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/2003/11/11-excuses-for-not-skiing-with-andrew-mclean">11 Excuses For NOT Skiing with Andrew McLean</a> </div>
<div class="field-item even">
<a href="/skiing/gear/skis/2004/05/thinking-to-survive">Thinking to Survive</a> </div>
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/2004/04/air-apparent">Air Apparent</a> </div>
<div class="field-item even">
<a href="/skiing/cross-country-events/2003/11/pulling-a-fast-one-again">Pulling a Fast One. Again.</a> </div>
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/2003/11/a-down-down-showdown-in-margaritaville">A Down-Down Showdown In Margaritaville</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/resorts/western-us/utah/2003/11/huck-off#commentsAthletesSki CultureSkiing Culturecirquedropping inhuckjamie pierrelee cohenminor concussionShane McConkeyskierSnowbirdUtahskiing12605http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/skinetimages/skiing/content/images/Nov03/droppingin1103/SKG1103diat.jpg52086Dropping In 1103http://www.skinet.com/skiing/In an era of one-upping each other, when do pro skiers call it quits?<p>Is cliff jumping the future of skiing, or just an awe-inspiring freak show on the margins of the sport?</p>
<p>I met skier Jamie Pierre for the first time on a Thursday morning last March. Within 90 minutes, I saw him flip off a 40-foot cliff at Snowbird and land on a tree buried in the snow. It hurt him like hell, but he broke no bones nor punctured any internal organs. Two hours later, at Alta, he got into a screaming argument with his friend and photographer Lee Cohen before popping off a 50-footer. Eight minutes after that, he tried to board a midmountain chair without showing his season pass. When a lift supervisor demanded to see it, Pierre snarled, "Do you know who I am?" The supervisor, who naturally found Pierre's comment rude, answered, "No, asshole, do you know who I am?" A sneering Pierre tore open his coat and thrust the pass toward the liftie in a manner that could have led to blows, but didn't. <br /><br />Early the next morning, Pierre hiked from Brighton to a cliff above Wolverine Cirque. As Cohen and I aimed cameras from an aerie above the Alta side of the cirque, Pierre attempted an American cliff-jumping record of 160 feet. During his stunningly long free fall, he pulled a Lincoln loop-reaching toward his tips and cartwheeling forward from the takeoff while somehow managing to rotate his torso. He stuck the landing. It was by far the biggest, most impressive air I've ever seen.<br /><br />Fifteen minutes later, while hiking out, Pierre had a seizure, likely due to the minor concussion he suffered on the landing. "I've averaged at least one concussion per year since the early '90s," Pierre tells me. He seldom wears a helmet: "If it's a matter of my body going instantly from terminal velocity to zero, a helmet isn't gonna help much."<br /><br />Pierre goes bigger than anyone alive, but I wonder what good it does him. Is hurling your meat off massive cliffs any way to make a name in skiing? <br /><br />It's hard to say. Pierre's 160-vertical-foot Lincoln loop occurred almost 10 years to the day after Tahoe bartender Paul Ruff died in an attempt to set the world-record cliff jump. At the time, the recognized record of 140 feet was shared by two skiers: soft-spoken John Tremann, who later left extreme skiing to become a born-again Christian, and Chuck "Huck" Patterson, who has since become better known for his big-wave surfing. After inviting friends, photographers, and cinematographers to a 160-foot cliff near Kirkwood, California, Ruff, and his dream of selling the footage to tabloid TV, splattered on some volcanic rocks. <br /><br />Nonetheless, skiers have spent the last decade going bigger and bigger. Canadian Jeff Holden became an immediate cover boy with a gargantuan 150-footer in Alaska a few years back. But just going big isn't enough-huckers keep tweaking the inhuman art of leaping into a void by throwing spins, tricks, and crotch grabs. A recent Nissan ad sells Pathfinders with footage of hospital-air flips by Micah Black, Kent Kreitler, and Shane McConkey.<br /><br />The sport's obsession with catching air long ago brought us V-legged Finns yumping Nordic style in the Olympics and, more recently, rubbery teens flipping about in terrain parks. But executing practiced jumps off man-made ramps doesn't send a shiver up skiers' collective spine like feral cliffs do. Unlike jibbers and Olympic ski jumpers, cliff huckers never know if their leaps are makeable. It's skiing's ultimate mind game. Ruff's friends, for instance, had reservations about his plan. But they hesitated to tell him so, fearing they'd cloud the positive attitude he'd need for his attempt. Still, Ruff's brains interfered anyway. Right before popping off the lip, he appeared to heed a basic human instinct and made an inexplicable, certainly unplanned, check turn. It was a "Whoa! What the hell am I doing?" hesitation. And it crimped his trajectory. Without the check turn, he might have cleared the murderous rocks... and survived to see his jump surpassed by some other loon.</p>
<p>These days, the world record belongs to Paul Ahern of New Zealand. In 1995, Ahern jumped an asttounding 225 feet into wind-packed snow, cushioning the blow by filling his backpack with Styrofoam. The fact that jibbers such as Tanner Hall make six figures a year while virtually no one even knows who Paul Ahern is suggests that cliff hucking is in no way a ticket to stardom. It gets you short-term attention, sure, but it's a dangerously poor way to make a career.</p>
<p>Pierre, who turned 30 last February, is only now carving out a profitable niche. "This is the first year that I can afford my lifestyle, instead of busting ass all summer to pay back my winter vacation," he says. "Sponsors thought I was just a hucker and wouldn't last, but now people realize I'm here to stay." Pierre has proven sufficiently photogenic to deliver all kinds of contemporary freeskiing imagery. He's not just screwing up his courage and plopping off nature's skyscrapers. He also stomps gap jumps-the suddenly de rigeur practice of going huge horizontally. He was the first person to nail Pyramid Gap, a 93-foot span between tailing piles in the Wasatch backcountry, over which he nonchalantly threw a floating back flip. For the latest Teton Gravity Research film, he soared off a kicker and over the third story of the Snowbird parking garage. But cliffs are where his heart is. "I moved to the Rockies from Minnesota to ski big terrain, not angled ice skating rinks like we had at home. I wish I was a better park rider, but jumps aren't that impressive to me if someone else can do it. If you can do it too, I'm wasting both of our time."</p>
<p>Sometime in the next few months, Pierre plans to break Ahern's record. At first he didn't want to say where. But after reassuring him that neither I nor the other 10 million skiers on earth would try to scoop him, he revealed that he's eyeing a 235-foot behemoth off the back side of Grand Targhee. Does it scare him? "As soon as it's over 65 feet, it's all the same," Pierre says. "A 70-footer is the same as a 160-footer, pysche-wise and impact-wise. You just gotta time the free fall better."</p>
<p>Iffy physics aside-forget 160 feet, he'll still be accelerating at 235 feet-there's got to be more to such carcass hurling than timing. So I asked Pierre what he does up on the edge of the abyss. "I stomp my skis into the snow, double click my poles together, and say a Hail Mary," he says. "I'm a strong Christian. Pronouncing my faith is the least I can do for the Holy Spirit for taking care of me for so long."</p>
<p>I find it fascinating that Pierre, like Tremann before him, asks God along on his jumps. Few freeskiers I know of rave about Christianity. Those with film credits often act arrogant, with an outsized sense of entitlement. But the more you talk to Pierre, the more you realize his outbursts are due to the singular focus it takes to hurl his corporal being into space. "I come off as short-tempered," he says, "but I apologize as soon as everything goes well." He also goes out of his way to credit family, girlfriend, and peers for his success. Call him a rare breed. Or, given his habit of hucking cliffs, call him an endangered species.</p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/2003/11/11-excuses-for-not-skiing-with-andrew-mclean">11 Excuses For NOT Skiing with Andrew McLean</a> </div>
<div class="field-item even">
<a href="/skiing/gear/skis/2004/05/thinking-to-survive">Thinking to Survive</a> </div>
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/2004/04/air-apparent">Air Apparent</a> </div>
<div class="field-item even">
<a href="/skiing/cross-country-events/2003/11/pulling-a-fast-one-again">Pulling a Fast One. Again.</a> </div>
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/2003/11/a-down-down-showdown-in-margaritaville">A Down-Down Showdown In Margaritaville</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
articleWed, 05 Nov 2003 09:40:00 +0000SkiNet Editor12605 at http://www.skinet.com/skiingBig Mountains, Big Changeshttp://www.skinet.com/skiing/mineral-basin/2000/12/big-mountains-big-changes?lnk=rss&loc=lee-cohen
<p><BR /><BR /><b>WHISTLER BLACKCOMB</b><BR /><b>NOW</b>: <I>Skiing</i>'s top-ranked North American resort has two distinct mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb. To spin a lap between the two, skiers must head down a series of blue and green runs on Blackcomb, and then take a gondola <I>and</i> a quad to the top of Whistler Mountain - about an hourlong trip.<br /> <b>LATER</b>: If the resort gets the $40 million it needs, a gondola spanning the Fitzsimmons Valley would connect Whistler and Blackcomb at mid-mountain as soon as 2007.<br /><b>WHAT IT MEANS FOR SKIERS</b>: With the new gondola, skiers could do laps on the tops of both peaks, avoiding the lower portions of each mountain. Or, adds Whistler local Rejean "Rage" Amirault: "Sometimes the conditions are different on each peak. With the gondola, if you don't like the snow on Whistler, you could be on Blackcomb in 10 minutes."
</p><p><BR /><b>SNOWBIRD</b><br /><b>NOW</b>: From the base area, the easiest way to reach upper Peruvian Gulch (on the front side) and Mineral Basin (on the back side) is to ride Snowbird's tram. At peak times, the wait can be an hour.<br /><b>LATER</b>: By the 2006-07 season, a 600-foot tunnel will connect Peruvian Gulch and Mineral Basin. Skiers will be able to access the tunnel (and the basin) from a high-speed quad that'll start at the base and replace the Peruvian lift. The 12-foot-high, 10-foot-wide artery will carry skiers on a one-way, 600-foot-long conveyor carpet into Mineral Basin.<BR /><b>WHAT IT MEANS FOR SKIERS</b>: Less traffic - on the tram and on the ridge. "If I saw a big tram line and no line on the new Peruvian, I'd take it to the tunnel, then back to Mineral Basin," says local photographer Lee Cohen. "Now that I think about it, that sounds pretty good."</p><P>MARCH/APRIL 2006
</p><p><a href=http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/snowmail/0,21559,,00.html target=_blank <font color="blue"> <u>Get Insider Tips and Exclusive Online content delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the SKIINGmag.com newsletter here</u></a><br /></p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/resorts/rockies/wyoming/2006/02/ski-porn-with-a-cause">Ski Porn with a Cause</a> </div>
<div class="field-item even">
<a href="/skiing/backcountry/destinations/2005/09/getting-better-all-the-time">Getting Better All the Time</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/mineral-basin/2000/12/big-mountains-big-changes#commentschair liftsgondolahigh speedinsider tipslee cohenmid mountainmineral basinmountainsphotographerrageskierswhistler blackcombskiing12144http://www.skinet.com/skiing/files/skinetimages/skiing/content/images/Mar06/skg3406ftnt.jpg52959Whistler Blackcomb
Courtesy of Whistler Blackcomb
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/First Tracks<p><BR /><BR /><b>WHISTLER BLACKCOMB</b><BR /><b>NOW</b>: <I>Skiing</i>'s top-ranked North American resort has two distinct mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb. To spin a lap between the two, skiers must head down a series of blue and green runs on Blackcomb, and then take a gondola <I>and</i> a quad to the top of Whistler Mountain - about an hourlong trip.<br /> <b>LATER</b>: If the resort gets the $40 million it needs, a gondola spanning the Fitzsimmons Valley would connect Whistler and Blackcomb at mid-mountain as soon as 2007.<br /><b>WHAT IT MEANS FOR SKIERS</b>: With the new gondola, skiers could do laps on the tops of both peaks, avoiding the lower portions of each mountain. Or, adds Whistler local Rejean "Rage" Amirault: "Sometimes the conditions are different on each peak. With the gondola, if you don't like the snow on Whistler, you could be on Blackcomb in 10 minutes."
</p><p><BR /><b>SNOWBIRD</b><br /><b>NOW</b>: From the base area, the easiest way to reach upper Peruvian Gulch (on the front side) and Mineral Basin (on the back side) is to ride Snowbird's tram. At peak times, the wait can be an hour.<br /><b>LATER</b>: By the 2006-07 season, a 600-foot tunnel will connect Peruvian Gulch and Mineral Basin. Skiers will be able to access the tunnel (and the basin) from a high-speed quad that'll start at the base and replace the Peruvian lift. The 12-foot-high, 10-foot-wide artery will carry skiers on a one-way, 600-foot-long conveyor carpet into Mineral Basin.<BR /><b>WHAT IT MEANS FOR SKIERS</b>: Less traffic - on the tram and on the ridge. "If I saw a big tram line and no line on the new Peruvian, I'd take it to the tunnel, then back to Mineral Basin," says local photographer Lee Cohen. "Now that I think about it, that sounds pretty good."</p><P>MARCH/APRIL 2006
</p><p><a href=http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/snowmail/0,21559,,00.html target=_blank <font color="blue"> <u>Get Insider Tips and Exclusive Online content delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the SKIINGmag.com newsletter here</u></a><br /></p>
<div class="field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/skiing/resorts/rockies/wyoming/2006/02/ski-porn-with-a-cause">Ski Porn with a Cause</a> </div>
<div class="field-item even">
<a href="/skiing/backcountry/destinations/2005/09/getting-better-all-the-time">Getting Better All the Time</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
articleWed, 20 Dec 2000 12:44:00 +0000SkiNet Editor12144 at http://www.skinet.com/skiing